What a clever lot we are, surrounded and infused as we are by fools and crooks and narcissists. To make our way through it we need to be Captains of our craft and know the Rules. It is not as simple as your ABCs but even there is a metaphor.
Rodrigo , who is based in Rio de Janiero, came over to show us a wider, higher, faster perspective. He is a Captain.
SAIL
Rod is a favoured customer. He drops in with his wrap-around sunnies and his monk's tonsure, and his first-mate 'Thumbs'. He plies the skies in almost heavenly regions and you can rely upon him to know where he is going and how to get there.
For interest, here's where he went on that trip.
Sequence:0:05 - SBRJ Santos Dumont RWY 20L - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil0:30 - Copacabana Beach - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil0:35 - SBRJ Santos Dumont RWY 20L - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil0:51 - Florianopolis SC Brasil1:07 - Downwind leg SBRJ Santos Dumont RWY 02R - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil ( Botafogo Beach )2:11 - SKBO El Dorado RWY 13R - Bogota - Colombia2:16 - SBSP Congonhas RWY 17R - São Paulo - Brasil2:23 - SKBO El Dorado RWY 13L - Bogota - Colombia ( Gust from left before touchdown )3:16 - SBSP Congonhas RWY 35L - São Paulo - Brasil
AVIANCA!
AVIANCA!
He has instruments; a compass, gauges, things that measure and tell him - if he cares to look at them - how his trip is going. If it is safe. He MUST know how to use them. Just was we have to know how to use our senses and pay attention to them.
Rod has to fly safely in fog and cloud with no reference points to see: in heavy weather. Above the clouds out of sight of landmarks. So do we in this age where the fog of 'relativity' can leave us in unknown territory.
Rod has to fly safely in fog and cloud with no reference points to see: in heavy weather. Above the clouds out of sight of landmarks. So do we in this age where the fog of 'relativity' can leave us in unknown territory.
He has to know the Rules not only of navigation and aviation but a thousand other rules that allow thousands of other Captains to ply the skies safely, getting their passengers to their destinations.
Most of us are passengers.
But we have a Moral Compass.
We don't usually see what the Captain of a plane sees.
He can see a 'different' reality. More. And he has to know it.
Paradise.
Our moral compass is essential.
Just look around at our clever world. The parts that work do so to order. Rules. Not freedom-denying rules but freedom-enabling rules.
Our lives have Moral rules. We throw them out of the window at our peril.
You can book a ticket to fly. You 'invest' your money in a 'sound' airline that has strict rules for maintenance and safety, and pilots who are carefully selected and trained.
You would not fly with a Captain who disregarded the rules and announced over the intercom that 'he makes his own rules up as he goes along because he knows Better'.
You demand that he is skilled. You demand that he flies as intended. By the Rules. You demand that he uses all the instruments at his disposal. You demand that he knows and understands why things go wrong and how to fix that.
You do NOT want him being 'progressive'.
You do not want him to declare that the rules are 'old fashioned' or invented to oppress him.
You do NOT want him to throw out all that has been learned and adopt his 'own' rules. And certainly not the ways used by airlines and pilots that have crashed and killed Millions of passengers.
You do NOT want him to throw out all that has been learned and adopt his 'own' rules. And certainly not the ways used by airlines and pilots that have crashed and killed Millions of passengers.
Arise
Each of us is the Captain of our own Soul.
Do you know how to fly?
Your licences to fly CAN be cancelled.
REPROBATE.
Your licences to fly CAN be cancelled.
REPROBATE.
Bill Said:
The rampant immortality, sin and debauchery we see everywhere around us can in part be explained by this extremely frightening truth: things can get so bad that God actually hands people over to their own sin and wickedness.
We have Free Will, but there are consequences to our choices.
Pax Dei Vobiscum.
Pax tecum, Amfortas.
ReplyDeleteI will pull a pint for m'self then, James. :)
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